04.01.2020 – L.dK Weekly

TAYLOR SWIFT CROWNS THE FIRST EDITION OF TOP CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS!

Taylor Swift holds both the No.1 & No.2 spots on Top Contemporary Albums.

On the premiere edition of the new Top Contemporary Albums Chart, Taylor Swift holds the top two spots, as she had done the previous week on the Top 50.

evermore sold 141,000 copies in the latest tracking week. It has now spent a total of three weeks at No.1, including two weeks on the Weekly Top 50 in 2020.

folklore lands at No.2 with sales of 74,000 units. The album peaked at No.1 on the Top 50 for fifteen cumulative weeks in 2020.

Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts is at No.3 (53,000) after spending two weeks at No.1 on the Top 50 in December. Ariana Grande’s three-week No.1 hit Positions is at No.4 (42,000); Rina Sawayama’s No.4 peaking SAWAYAMA places at No.5 (31,000).

Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! takes the No.6 spot (23,000) on the new Top Contemporary Albums Chart. NFR! notches a record-extending 63rd week inside the Top Ten (62 of those were earned on the Top 50). The record is the longest-running No.1 ever, with seventeen weeks in charge.

Rounding out the Top Ten: Joji’s Nectar at No.7 (18,000); Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters at No.8 (17,000); Harry Styles’ Fine Line at No.9 (16,000); and Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia at No.10 (14,000).

Onto Next Week: Taylor Swift looks set to continue her domination of the Contemporary Chart. evermore could easily sell over 120,000 units, while folklore should draw around 70,000 consumption units.

Notable Moves on Top Contemporary

No.13 – Petals for Armor / Hayley Williams’s debut solo album Petals for Armor was among the biggest albums of 2020, peaking at No.3 in Summer and spending eight months to date on the chart. This week, Petals sold 11,000 copies, bringing its total sales to 906,000 units. Williams earns her first 3 x Platinum plaque!

No.17 – Piano Sketches / Birdy’s latest EP, released in October 2020, originally peaked at No.25 last November, but this week reaches a new high of No.17 on Top Contemporary Albums. Selling 8,000 copies, it has now moved 63,000 units in total. Piano is Birdy’s third effort to be certified at least Silver, following her Gold-certified self-titled set, and her Platinum Beautiful Lies.

Top Contemporary Albums

1. evermore – Taylor Swift (3)
2. folklore – Taylor Swift (23)
3. Plastic Hearts – Miley Cyrus (5)
4. Positions – Ariana Grande (9)
5. SAWAYAMA – Rina Sawayama (4)
6. Norman Fucking Rockwell! – Lana Del Rey (70)
7. Nectar – Joji (14)
8. Fetch the Bolt Cutters – Fiona Apple (37)
9. Fine Line – Harry Styles (55)
10. Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa (40)
11. Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass – Lana Del Rey (23)
12. After Hours – The Weeknd (41)
13. Petals for Armor – Hayley Williams (34)
14. What’s Your Pleasure? – Jessie Ware (27)
15. Album No.8 – Katie Melua (11)
16. Live in Concert: the 24 Karat Gold Tour – Stevie Nicks (9)
17. Piano Sketches – Birdy (8)
18. BE – BTS (6)
19. Such Pretty Forks in the Road – Alanis Morissette (22)
20. Chromatica – Lady Gaga (31)
21. DISCO – Kylie Minogue (8)
22. Ungodly Hour – Chloe x Halle (29)
23. Map of the Soul: 7 – BTS (45)
24. Infinite Things – Paloma Faith (7)
25. Love Goes – Sam Smith (9)

Certifications: Silver (60,000), Gold (100,000), Platinum (300,000), Multi-Platinum (600,000 etc.), Diamond (3,000,000)

CAROLE KING IS THE FIRST NO.1 ON TOP CATALOGUE ALBUMS!

Fleetwood Mac & Stevie Nicks both double up inside the Top Ten.

Carole King’s A Beautiful Collection is one of the bestselling albums of all time: since receiving a retrospective release just over six months ago, it has shifted a little over 1.3 million copies.

During its 27-week run inside the Top Ten in 2020, Beautiful managed a total of nine weeks at No.2, earning it the title of most weeks at No.2 without reaching No.1 (it tied this record, but this week loses it as it ascends to the top). On the new Top Catalogue Albums Chart, it reaches No.1 for the first time, moving 22,000 copies.

Three further best-of sets follow in the Top Five: Fleetwood Mac land at No.2 with their No.1 compilation Greatest Hits (15,000); Stevie Nicks makes it to No.3 with Timespace: the Best of Stevie Nicks (14,000) which spent three weeks at the No.1 spot between 2019 and 2020; and Alanis Morissette’s The Collection (which now solely boasts the most weeks spent at No.2 without hitting No.1) is at No.4 with 13,000 sold.

Annie Lennox’s Diva is the highest-ranking studio album on Top Catalogue Albums this week, as it lands at No.5 shifting 12,000 units.

Diva has now charted for a total of 100 weeks – it is Lennox’s first album to earn this impressive accolade! Previously, Diva ruled the Weekly Top 50 for a week in November 2018.

Kate Bush places at No.6 with the No.4-peaking The Whole Story (12,000).

Stevie Nicks’ second album to make the Top Ten takes the No.7 spot this week… Bella Donna moved 11,000 units in the tracking week. It has now charted for a record-padding total of 120 weeks.

Ariana Grande’s Sweetener is at No.8 (8,000). It logged three weeks at No.1 in 2018.

Fleetwood Mac make their second appearance in the Top Ten with Rumours at No.9 (8,000) – the album tallied a total of five weeks at the No.1 spot in 2017.

Rounding out the Top Ten, Tori Amos’s No.2 hit Little Earthquakes places at No.10 with 8,000 sold.

Onto Next Week: Florence + the Machine could earn their second No.1 on L.dK with their 2018 set High as Hope which could bow with around 50,000 units.

Top Catalogue Albums

1. A Beautiful Collection – Carole King (28)
2. Greatest Hits – Fleetwood Mac (58)
3. Timespace: the Best of Stevie Nicks – Stevie Nicks (56)
4. The Collection – Alanis Morissette (38)
5. Diva – Annie Lennox (100)
6. The Whole Story – Kate Bush (78)
7. Bella Donna – Stevie Nicks (120)
8. Sweetener – Ariana Grande (102)
9. Rumours – Fleetwood Mac (107)
10. Little Earthquakes – Tori Amos (54)
11. thank u, next – Ariana Grande (49)
12. 50 Words for Snow – Kate Bush (6)
13. She’s so Unusual – Cyndi Lauper (82)
14. A Star is Born – Lady Gaga (95)
15. Tusk – Fleetwood Mac (33)
16. Glasshouse – Jessie Ware (94)
17. Crystal Visions – Stevie Nicks (44)
18. Medusa – Annie Lennox (74)
19. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful – Florence + the Machine (37)
20. Heart – HEART (36)
21. The Sensual World – Kate Bush (53)
22. 25 – Adele (106)
23. Back to Black – Amy Winehouse (84)
24. Bad Animals – HEART (72)
25. The Red Shoes – Kate Bush (58)

Industry Sales: Contemporary Albums recorded sales of 548,000 units this week, while Catalogue Albums generated 207,000 units. Contemporary made up 72.5% of all sales this week; compared to Catalogue’s share of 27.5%.

Overall, music sales totalled 755,000 units across all charts and albums. This marks a 39.5% increase from the first week of 2020 which drove sales of 541,000 units.